The Next BIG Nashville folks and their partners are reaching out to encourage gear and financial donations. NAMM's big Summer NAMM trade show in Nashville -- June 18-20 at the Nashville Convention Center (601 Commerce Street) -- will offer an easy opportunity for companies to get involved: Donations will be accepted there at the NMA and MusicCares.org booths.

Companies that won't have reps at NAMM but still want to donate equipment can contact biggear@americansongwriter.com. Those that would rather opt for financial donations are encouraged to contribute to the MusicCares.org Nashville Relief Fund, which is working to funnel relief toward flood-affected Nashville musicians in need.

In other Next BIG Nashville news: The deadline for applying to perform at this year's fest, scheduled this year for September 29-October 2 at various Nashville venues, has been extended a week. Hopeful performers now have until June 21 to get their application in. It's $10 to apply, via American Songspace or Festivalus. Learn more about the application process at the official Next BIG Nashville site.

Big news from performing rights organization ASCAP to kick off the week -- longtime Nashville head Connie Bradley will be changing roles with the organization, moving into a position as a strategic adviser as former Arista Nashville president Tim DuBois moves into a leadership role.

Stephen Barker Liles couldn’t decide who to take to the CMA Awards this year. He was torn between Kathie Lee Gifford, Dolly Parton and his mom — and he was hoping actress Megan Fox would decide to attend the ceremony so he could meet her, too. His mom won the coin toss (not that Kathie Lee and Dolly were serious contenders anyway).

Liles’ self-engineered dilemma is a pretty fair representation of where he and his Love and Theft bandmates Brian Bandas and Eric Gunderson find themselves these days — teetering on the edge of fame, trying to figure out how to balance their Christian values with the temptations that go along with newfound celebrity.

“It’s really hard,” said Liles. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. That’s why I feel so fortunate to be working with Eric and Brian, because we all hold each other accountable, and we all call each other out, and we make sure that we’re all representing each other and the Lord the way we should. It’s a struggle day in and day out, for sure. There’s a lot of crazy stuff out there.”

And as more fans discover the band’s striking combination of alternative all-American good looks and their Restless Heart-meets-Eagles harmonies, it’s likely to get crazier for the trio. And given their growing popularity at country radio, that time could be at hand.

ASCAP and RCA Nashville honored country singer Chris Young with a party on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate his No. 1 hit, "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)." The hit rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Songs chart in October, and the singer was as surprised as he was elated by the success.

He and his co-writers, Cory Batten and Kent Blazy, "ended up writing the whole song in about an hour," Young said during Tuesday's event. "When something comes together that fast, you're sitting there going, 'Is this brilliant or stupid?' It was one of those songs that really just wrote itself."

For a relative newcomer receiving accolades on a record that came together so smoothly, Young remains grounded.

"It's still surreal. I still pinch myself everyday about it. It sounds stupid and it's a hokey answer to say, but I mean we were shooting the new video (for 'The Man I Want to Be') and I was like, 'Man I got a No. 1 record!' It's just really strange to me, but it's so cool playing that song out and hearing that people all know the words to it."

“The first time I heard ‘You’re Gonna Miss This,’ we were getting ready for my daughter’s wedding,” said Adkins. “I got choked up, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to say this for her, and for myself.’ ”

Gorley also performed “You’re Gonna Miss This,” which was named one of ASCAP’s five most-played songs. ASCAP writers Jackson, Don Sampson, Clay Mills and Tommy Karlas performed the other four top songs: “Good Time” (Jackson), “Waitin’ On A Woman” (Paisley), “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” (Rucker) and “Roll With Me” (Montgomery Gentry).

ASCAP Senior Vice President Connie Bradley and president and CEO Paul Williams served as co-hosts, with Williams also performing a medley of his own hits: He’s the author of “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “We’ve Only Just Begun” and many others.

Some of Nashville's top songwriters and publishers will gather tonight at the Ryman Auditorium to honor some of their own at ASCAP's 47th annual Country Music Awards. JD Souther, who found fame writing for the Eagles, will receive the industry group's vaunted Golden Note Award.

This time out, ASCAP has a new leader in Paul Williams, a Grammy-, Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning songwriter who has written for Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, R.E.M. and many others; he was elected president and chairman in April. Williams will perform several of his hits at the show.

"I have a real connection with this town because I came down here in the mid- to late '90s and pretty much thought I was done writing," he said. "But there was just something in the water down here, and I fell in love with the process."

Aside from celebrating some very fine songwriters, Williams said, the invitation-only awards show reminds Nashville that there's still a very human aspect to the music industry, even in 2009.

"These major organizations are fighting over pieces of pie, but my job is to remind everybody that there's some guy writing with headphones on (so he won't) wake the baby in the next room," he said.

Middle Tennessean singer-songwriter J.D. Souther, who has penned hits including the Eagles' "Best of My Love" and "Heartache Tonight," solo smash "You're Only Lonely" and the Souther/James Taylor duet "Her Town Too," will receive a Golden Note award from ASCAP on Mon., Oct. 19.

"Having written hits for nearly four decades, JD Souther is in a class all his own," said ASCAP senior vice president Connie Bradley. "Many of the hits he's written have become part of the soundtrack of the lives of multiple generations."